Before the War
by erttheking
Summary: Count Dooku became well known for his role in forming the CIS, and for being the apprentice of Darth Sidious. This is a snapshot of a moment in his life before his image became that of a Sith. Patreon sponsored story.


Before the War

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Count Dooku, secretly known as Darth Tyranus, was very pleased with himself. He was sitting in a dimly lit room in the back of a space station no one cared about in the depths of the Outer Rim. Sitting across from him was Shu Mai, a long necked and dark blue alien that was Presidente of the Commerce Guild.

He sat alone, while she had a dozen armed guards behind her, all members of her security force and all armed with blasters. He privately found it to be amusing. A clumsy display of force that showed just how much Shu Mai underestimated him. His lightsaber was hidden under his cloak. If he wanted, all thirteen of those who stood opposite him would be dead in thirty seconds. But he needed them alive. They still had use.

"I must say, you drive a hard bargain," Dooku said slowly, pretending to be much more reluctant than he was. "Remember, admission into this alliance of ours is in your best interest. You and the rest of your guild stands to make substantial gains." He was deliberately keeping his wording weak, making it seem like he was stumbling in the dark with vague corporate speak. She spotted this and smiled thinly.

"I did not rise to the top of the Commerce Guild by settling Count," she replied curtly. "I need more."

"But surely you will receive more than enough," Dooku protested, injected a tiny bit of artificial desperation into his voice. "You will gain autonomy in all systems that you are stationed in as well as the right to annex all nearby star systems within a ten light year radius from the planet you designate your capital. It's practically highway robbery."

Her grin widened. "I want Coruscant."

"But-I-that-this-that is preposterous," Dooku said, blustering outwardly while inwardly fighting the urge to role his eyes. "The new order we are planning will still require Coruscant to act as the political, social and economic heart of the galaxy. It's not in my place to give away."

"Well then, I feel like we have nothing more to discuss," Shu Mai said, slowly getting to her feet. "I will have to decline your offer to join this little confederacy that you are putting together, Count. Perhaps I will even speak to the Republic about your attempts to plan a rebellion. I imagine they will be very interested in hearing about it.

Dock wasn't looking at her. He had lowered his face to look at the table, as if in distress, but in reality he was focusing on her guards. Stiff backed and rooted to the spot, none of them moving towards the exit. Shu Mai was bluffing, no doubt she had informed her soldiers what lines she was and was not willing to cross. They were clearly intending to stay a little while longer. He could call her on the bluff, watch it crumble around her and establish his dominance over her. But it would be much easier to play along.

"I…" he said, dragging out his reply to create the illusion of hesitancy. "I see I don't have much of a choice. However, the planet must still act as the seat of politics. You may act as governor to the general populace, but the new Senate and Chancellor must be allowed to meet there to pass and enact legislation."

Shu Mai's smile spread so wide that Dooku half expected something to snap in her mouth. "I'm glad that we've come to an understanding. I'll also need exclusive mining rights to all of Coruscant's moons."

"But you can't!" Dooku protested. "You've already got the planet itself, what more could you possibly stand to-" Shu Mai turned to face the door. Once again, her guards didn't move at all. Once again, she was bluffing. "Very well…" he said, making his voice as weak and feeble as possible.

"I will see you at the next gathering of this confederacy then," Shu Mai said smugly, turning and walking towards the door. This time, the guards moved as one to follow her. This was the first time they had moved since they had started this meeting. Focusing his concentration at the one at the very last one through the doorway, he waved his hand under the table and whispered, "You will watch her and report to me every week. You will report early if she means to betray me." A guard like that was drilled into following orders without question, possibly from birth. Someone that weak willed was even more vulnerable to influence than the average citizen of the galaxy.

He looked meekly back at the table on the off chance that Shu Mai looked back to relish in her victory. He waited for a minute, before meekly getting to his feet and shuffling out of the room. Slowly, he made his way through the station, occasionally giving an exaggerated sniff as he passed by some of the guards. Eventually, he found himself in the hanger, where he pitifully clambered into his solar sailer, closed the cockpit and began to initiate the launch sequence. Within a minute, the ship was out of the station and in hyperspace.

He relaxed into his seat and recounted the meeting. He had promised massive amounts of autonomy, along with the capital of the galaxy, to a head of a major economic and military instillation in exchange for their help in forming the CIS. For the fifth time that month. Nute Gunray, Poggle the Lesser, Wat Tambor and Passel Argente were all under the impression that they would be the ones to receive control of Coruscant after the rebellion was finished.

None of them would dare speak of this to each other. They had gotten to where they were in the galaxy through treachery, skullduggery and scheming. All of them were under the impression that the gains they had acquired from him were something that they had needed to bully out of him, that it was a secret prize to be treasured. That if it was made public, they would be forced to share with the other members of the CIS. Let them think that.

Under normal circumstances, this would be a very dangerous move to play. It might help him in the short term, but in the long run, the ones he had tricked would put the pieces together. They would fight over who truly owned all of the promises territory, yes, but they would do their best to kill him first. Against the combined forces of so many powerful entities, even someone like Dooku would be in grave danger. It didn't matter though. After all, they were being organized to fight a war that they would eventually lose.

His master truly did love to play the long game. He wanted a galaxy completely under his control. One who would take over the galaxy by military force would, in name, rule it. But only in name. All intelligent life seemed to resent conquerors, and they would resist for years, if not decades, both passively and violently. The man who conquered the galaxy would never truly hold dominion over it. But the man who saved the galaxy from an evil army? Supreme control would be gleefully handed over to him.

That was his master's plan. A very complicated plan that would take years to carry out, but one that Dooku was confident would succeed. So long as care was used in setting up the pawns who thought themselves kings and queens. So long as they thought that the galaxy was theirs for the taking, they would fight as hard as Sidious needed them to.

And it was surprisingly easy to goad these people into action. The lack of an organized military had always been well known aspect of the Galactic Republic, but even then the hopefuls for the Separatist Council had wanted confirmation that they would have allies before they made their move. Dooku couldn't help but find that rather odd, and he didn't find the excuses leveled at him very convincing.

Many said that, even without a standing army, the Jedi could still rally militias that could oppose any one of them that tried to take over the galaxy by themselves. There might be some truth to that, but Dooku couldn't help but looker deeper to more sinister motives. He had a very good hunch that, as soon as the Republic was finished, the members of the Separatist Council would all try to stab each other in the back. It was why Dooku was confident that they would keep his fake promises under wraps. They all knew that knives were being hidden behind backs, and no one wanted to draw any unwanted attention to themselves. Sneaky and deceiving, the whole lot of them, yet it made them ironically predictable.

Of course, the budding CIS was only half of the equation. Pressing a few buttons he brought up a message he had received the previous day, one from Jango Fett. He smiled as he read through it. The clone army was continuing production, and was on course to be finished on time. Finished around the same time that the CIS droid army would be finished.

He remembered the amount of political wrangling that had been needed to pull that off. Timing the production of the droid army at just the right time, as well as pressuring the Separatist Council to begin production at just the right time. Shu Mai had been particularly stubborn in that regard, and had just barely been able to convince her to contribute her part in the production before he had moved on to convincing her to join the CIS proper.

He really did have to thank Sifo-Dyas for ordering the clone army in the first place, it had made things so much easier on his end. Dooku had left the Jedi Order long before he had joined Darth Sidious, so either one of them ordering the clone army would've raised questions that could have undermined everything. Particularly as Dooku was supposed to be the public leader of those who were unsatisfied with the current rule of the Republic, a movement that was currently peaceful and, as far as most people knew, not being backed by a massive droid army.

In a way, Sifo-Dyas was right. The Trade Federation had been too cowardly to invade a planet as undefended as Naboo without the backing of his master, as cowardly as the rest of the CIS, but they had access to a frightening amount of military hardware. Nute Gunray might have eventually been replaced by someone who was more daring, who wouldn't have needed the coaxing of another to strike outward. The same could be said for all of those who sat on the Separatist Council. The Republic had desperately needed an army.

It was just a pity that he had been advocating for an army to defend the same weak and self serving Republic that had slowly stagnated over the years. In a way, he wished that Sifo-Dyas had been a more strong willed and independent man. He could have joined Dooku and Sidious in their move to establish a stronger order to rule the galaxy. But no, that wouldn't have worked. There could only be two Sith, one apprentice and one master, and Sifo-Dyas would never have stooped to being merely a Dark Jedi lackey.

Dooku paused in his train of thought. Thinking about the nature of the Sith had reminded him of something. There was one thing he had not thought about up until this point. His role in the new order. He felt a spark of excitement. It was the destiny of every Sith to kill, or at the very least, try to kill his or her master. That was the Rule of Two as set down by Darth Bane, one to embody power, and the other to desire it.

He swallowed, excitement now coursing through him. Maybe this was his time. Sidious was hardly young, he had to be utilizing the Force in order to keep his body moving at this point. His mind and his skill were no doubt still razor sharp though, so he would need to be careful. Even if he was to kill his master in the midst of the upcoming conflict, he would wait years for do to it. Wait for Sidious to lose himself in the complexities of managing a war on two fronts, then strike as the end drew near.

He still had plenty of contacts within the Republic, he would be able to appoint a replacement for his master's public persona with ease. Count Dooku, the leader of the Separatist movement, would have to die. Die a death that he deserved for leading the galaxy into a war. Darth Tyranus, however, would rule the galaxy from the shadows, manipulating a puppet figure placed at the top of the new galactic order.

He would need a new apprentice, of course. Perhaps Asaji Ventress, she did show potential after all. But no, her affiliation with the Night Sisters was unreliable. While they fully embraced the Dark Side, they could not be trusted to remain permanent allies.

He forced down the temporary burst of excitement that had flooded him. The Sith did value passion, but there was a difference between being passionate and being foolish. He could not afford to be hasty in dealing with Sidious. He would have to wait for his chance, and plan well in advance. This, however, was a matter for another time. Right now, he had a war to engineer.

He would need to force the Republic into accepting the clone army that was being created in secret. Make them desperate. He would have to start small though, if he hit them with an overwhelming display of force, they might vote to surrender instead of mobilizing for war. Not an attack or a massacre, but something that targeted a single person would be needed. Perhaps an assassination.

Not yet though. So much of this could be described as "not yet." The clone army had to be built up, the CIS droid army had to be built up, so many variables. At times, Dooku couldn't help but wonder if his master was incapable of making simpler plans. Still, this one was solid, if overly complex.

He smiled as he continued to speed through hyperspace. The Dark Side still clouded the Jedi. They had no idea that the enemy they were looking for was right under their nose. It was perfect evidence of how complacent and incapable they had become. That something like the Naboo incident had been allowed to happen with them only putting up a token resistance. One that had led to the death of a Jedi Master.

A flurry of anger flew through Dooku as he remembered that. Qui-Gin Jinn, the boy who Dooku had personally groomed into such a fine Jedi that he had risen to the very top, slaughtered while the council had done nothing. The Sith may have been the ones who physically drove a lightsaber into his stomach, but the Jedi were the ones who let him die. He would have his revenge on both of them, however. He would slowly pick off the Jedi Masters who had let his apprentice die, and then he would impale Darth Sidious in his heart.

Dooku's jaw clenched. He would not have anyone else die because of weakness and indecisiveness. He would bring this galaxy to order, kicking and screaming if he had to. No more weak, ineffective leaders, no more scheming, backstabbing businessmen, no more old men running the entire galaxy from the shadows. There would only be him and the order he would bring to the chaos.

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This was a little out of my depth and I struggled to come up with material (which is why it's a little shorter than usual), but the prompt for this month was Count Dooku before the Clone Wars started. I hope you enjoy it.

I would like to thank my Patrons SuperFeatherYoshi, xXNanamiXx, and Ryan Van Schaack for their amazing support.


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